Strawberry Angel Food Trifle
Indulge in this strawberry angel food cake trifle. This layered dessert features a homemade angel food cake, a sweet cream cheese custard filling, and a strawberry glaze. It is light, fluffy, and a fruity treat to serve for dessert.
Angel food cake and strawberries almost seem to be made for one another, so I had to create this dessert for our summer entertaining guests. It is also a fun dessert for Easter, Valentine's Day, or other family gatherings.Want more strawberry recipes: try this strawberry dip, easy strawberry brownies, or strawberry marshmallows. Are all fun and creative desserts.
The first time I made an angle food cake from scratch I was afraid of over-mixing the egg whites with the flour and ended up with a cake that tasted like scrambled eggs. I also didn't know that you aren't supposed to grease the pan. I learned these two lessons on the first attempt but luckily I'm a quick learner. The second time around I ended up with a heavenly angel food cake that was fluffy, spongy, and smelled like toasted marshmallows.
Reasons To Make This Strawberry Angel Food Cake Trifle
Make Ahead Friendly: You can make this a day ahead of when you want to serve it. Then, when ready, dish it up and serve. To ensure the cake doesn't get soggy, store each ingredient separately till mixing.
From Scratch: This dessert is made from a homemade cake, custard, and strawberry glaze.
Summer Approved: This dessert is light, refreshing, and perfect for a hotter summer.
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Ingredients Needed
Cake Flour: Reach for cake flour and sift it before you add it to the cake batter.
Eggs: You only want to use egg whites, as it will help the cake batter rise high when whipped up.
Cream of Tartar: This is a must when making angel food cake. Make sure it is not expired.
Sugar: Granulated and powdered sugar are used in this dessert to make the cake, custard, and glaze.
Vanilla: The vanilla helps to sweeten and blend all the ingredients nicely.
Salt: Salt will be used to enhance the natural flavors in the ingredients.
Cream Cheese: Make sure you use room temperature cream cheese as it will not blend properly if you don't.
Sweetened Condensed Milk: Thick and creamy and the perfect way to enhance the custard mixture in a big way.
Whipping Cream: You will use this to thicken and richen the custard base.
Cornstarch: The cornstarch is used as a slurry with water to thicken the strawberry glaze.
Gelatin Powder: You will buy strawberry jello to add a sweet strawberry flavor to the homemade glaze.Strawberries: Last but not least, you will want some fresh strawberries for the glaze.
Substitutions and Variations
- Cake: You can use a store-bought angel food cake to speed up the prep time. Or you can make a white or yellow cake and replace the angel food cake in this recipe.
- Fruit: I used strawberries, but you can swap them with raspberries, blueberries, or any fruit, for that matter. If you swap, make sure to change out the flavor of jello you use.
- Whipped Cream: You can fold in whipped cream instead of making fresh whipped cream for the custard filling if you would like.
- Garnish: Garnish with fresh berries and nuts like slivered almonds, sprinkle on white chocolate chips, whipped cream, etc. The sky is the limit for garnishes.
NOTE: This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations
How to Make Strawberry Trifle with Angel Food Cake
Angel Food Cake
Start by mixing up the cake in a stand or hand mixer. You will want to whip up the eggs, making them frothy, and then work in the tarter to create soft peaks.
Then work in the sugar while mixing on high, and continue mixing until stiff peaks have formed.
Then, you will stir in the vanilla and cake mix until combined.
Spoon into an ungreased pan and bake as directed. Once done, let it fully cool.
Custard
Add your heavy cream in a mixing bowl until soft peaks.
Then, blend the cream cheese in a separate bowl until it is fully creamed and has no clumps.
Work in the condensed milk with the cream cheese and mix till it is combined.
Fold in the whipped cream, and then refrigerate until ready to use.
Strawberry Glaze
In a saucepan, add sugar and cornstarch and whisk to combine. Make sure to stir often so the mixture doesn't clump.
Add in the gelatin and water, stirring over medium heat.
Allow it to boil, then remove it from the heat to cool completely.
Once the glaze has cooled, add to your strawberries and stir.
Assemble
Cut the angel food cake into cubes and place a half or a third to the bottom of a trifle bowl.
Add on a half/a third of the custard and a third of the glaze.
Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Tips For Success
- Make sure to use room temperature egg whites, as it will help them to whip up to a thicker and higher volume.
- Sifting the cake flour is essential as you want the cake to be extra light and airy, not dense like a traditional cake.
- Folding in the cream is essential, or you will deflate your cake.
- Softened cream cheese is a must, or it will be clumpy in the custard.
- Uniformly cut the cake once done so each bite is evenly sized.
- You can use frozen strawberries if you do not have fresh ones.
Storing
This dessert needs to be refrigerated until ready to serve it up. Place in a sealed, airtight container. It will last for 4-5 days in the fridge.
Due to the custard and fruit, I recommend not freezing this dessert. You can try it, but the texture will vary.
Recipe FAQs
You can make a few hours ahead of time to overnight. It will help the flavors blend more if you make it in advance.
Any type of fruit you like will work. Peaches, blueberries, mixed berries, etc., all work great.
If you end up with a dense or flat cake, it could be that you didn't sift the cake flour, whip the egg whites enough, or over-mixed the batter. You have to ensure the egg whites are stiff peaks before you move on.
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Strawberry Angel Food Trifle
Ingredients
Angel Food Cake
- 1 cup cake flour
- 12 large egg whites
- 1 ¼ teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Custard
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 1 can
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Strawberry Glaze
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 ounce box strawberry gelatin
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups fresh strawberries halved
Instructions
Cake
- Place the bottom rack on the lowest level of the oven and the top rack on your highest level in the oven. Make sure there's room between the two racks for your angel food cake pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place the egg whites in a stand mixer bowl. With the whisk attachment and the mixer on medium beat the egg whites until they become frothy. This will take about 1 minute.
- Add in the cream of tartar and continue to whisk on medium speed until the egg whites form soft peaks.
- When soft peaks have formed, turn the mixer to high and slowly add in the granulated sugar. Once all the sugar in the egg whites and the whites have formed stiff peaks, remove the bowl from the stand mixer.
- With a whisk or spatula, fold in the vanilla and cake flour. Make sure the flour is thoroughly incorporated otherwise you'll end up with a cake that tastes like scrambled eggs.
- Spoon the batter into the UNGREASED angel food cake pan. Smooth out the batter on the top and place the cake into the oven for 30 minutes.
- Once the cake is golden brown, remove from the oven and tip it upside down on a wine bottle or anything that will hold the pan upside down properly. Let it cool for an hour.
- Run a knife around the inside and outside edges of the cake and remove from the pan. It's best to have a pan that the bottom separates from the sides.
Glaze
- In a medium saucepan, add the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk together to avoid the cornstarch clumping.
- Add in the gelatin mix and whisk again.
- Add in the water and stir until incorporated. Place over medium heat and stir occasionally.
- Once it comes to a boil, let it boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool completely.
- After the glaze has cooled completely, you can add in 2 cups of halved strawberries if you choose.
Custard
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixing bowl, add the heavy cream. Using the whisk attachment for the stand mixer or the electric hand mixer, beat on medium speed until soft peaks form.
- Add in the powdered sugar and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
- Scoop the whipped cream out into a separate bowl and set aside.
- In the same large bowl/stand mixer bowl, add the cream cheese. Beat on medium speed until smooth.
- Add in the sweetened condensed milk and continue mixing until completely incorporated into the cream cheese.
- Fold in one-third of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. The whipped cream will deflate some with this first addition.
- Add another one-third of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and fold in with a spatula. Once combined, add the remaining whipped cream and fold in.
Assemble
- Cut the cooled angel food cake into small squares. Place half or a third of the angel food cake pieces into the bottom of the trifle bowl.
- Add in half or a third of the custard and spread it to all the edges.
- Add in half or a third of the glaze.
- Repeat the layers one to two more times starting with the cake, then custard, and then glaze.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Spoon out and serve once chilled.
Notes
Nutrition
(Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.)
I love angel food trifle but have never tried making one from at home. Yours looks fantastic! Love how pretty all the layers look 🙂
Thank you very much. It was so delicious and refreshing!